Sorry, but that $1,100 standing desk won’t make you thinner

Standing desks won’t make you lose weight, and they also don’t make you significantly healthier or more productive, according to a new analysis of 53 sit-stand desk studies.

Dr. April Chambers, a bioengineer and assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, collaborated with Dr. Nancy A. Baker, an associate professor of occupational therapy at Tufts University, and Dr. Michelle M. Robertson, an executive director for the Office Ergonomics Research Committee, to determine how effective sit-stand desks (aka SSDs) are for workers. They wanted to know whether SSDs actually got workers to sit less and move more; whether they improved cardiovascular health and memory, while reducing fatigue and obesity; how they affected mood and confidence; if they eased musculoskeletal discomfort (like back and neck pain); and whether they helped improve workers’ postures at their computers.

The good news is, they found evidence that standing desks did modify workers’ behavior so that they were less sedentary; significant reductions in sitting time and increases in standing time were found 76% and 89% of the time, respectively. And standing desks were the most effective at making workers more comfortable; many subjects self-reported having less lower-back pain. There were slight improvements in users’ blood pressure, as well.

But overall, the desks weren’t making workers healthier or more productive in significant ways. There was almost no effect on obesity, as you don’t burn enough calories from just standing to have a huge impact on the scale. One study noted that workers who stood at their desks the entire day — not just for an hour here or there, but for six hours — burned only 54 more calories a day, on average. That’s less than half the calories in a slice of bread. Meanwhile, walking burns three times as many calories, even done at a leisurely pace.

“When they first hit the market, I think that certain areas of research just had higher expectations that they could use these [standing desk] devices for weight loss and things like that — and they haven’t lived up to that,” Chambers told MarketWatch. “But I don’t think that’s necessarily what they were made for, and I think there are other benefits that have been under-explored.”

Workers also weren’t noticeably more productive when they switched from sitting to standing desks; 77% of the 22 studies that looked at work performance had “no significant results,” and two of the studies actually found that sitting made workers more productive. (Newsweek also reported on an Australian study last year that found workers standing at computer desks for two hours reported physical and mental pain the longer they stood.)

“While we didn’t really see a detriment to mood or health or productivity, we didn’t see much improvement, either. But we also didn’t see any real consistency anywhere about how to use them, how long to use them, what position somebody should be in, and for how long,” Chambers added. “More research is needed to figure out how better to use them, and to get other benefits out of them other than weight loss.”

Still, more and more workplaces are adopting standing desks. While it’s nothing new — Charles Dickens, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway all reportedly wrote while standing up — there’s been a rise in standing desks over the past decade. As workplaces have become more focused on employee wellness, and the dangers of sitting for long periods — even if you exercise — have become more widely recognized, companies like Microsoft MSFT, +0.17% , Facebook FB, -2.06% and Alphabet’s GOOGL, +0.20% GOOG, +0.30% Google have provided adjustable desks for workers to sit or stand at. In fact, Apple’s AAPL, +0.08% Tim Cook announced last year that all 12,000 employees at the iPhone maker’s new Apple Park headquarters would be given standing desks.

About 44% of the companies surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management now either provide or subsidize standing desks for their employees, which is a three-fold increase since 2013. And the global standing-desk market is expected to reach $2.8 billion by 2025, according to Acute Market Reports, which notes that it’s not rising faster because the desks’ “additional cost hampers market growth.”

Indeed, Steve Robertson, the CEO of the small software company Eventective, Inc. in Maine, spent about $24,000 to replace his 20 employees’ traditional desks with standing LifeDesks, which ran about $1,100 apiece. They also required adding specialized standing mats ($20 apiece) at each station to make being on their feet more comfortable.

“One of the interesting side benefits is that collaborating with another person is actually easier and pleasant at a standing desk,” Robertson told MarketWatch. “As opposed to ‘pulling a chair up,’ it is much easier to simply walk up and work together while standing.” He also said that the boost in employee morale from his team appreciating that the company invests in their health (also offering them a half-price gym membership) has raised productivity.

Varidesk CEO and co-founder Jason McCann, who said his standing desks are in 98% of the Fortune 500 companies, told MarketWatch that his company’s products are meant to compliment overall wellness. “We believe a truly healthy lifestyle means you need to move throughout the day. The average working adult spends more than half of his waking life sitting, yet we know sitting for more than four hours per day can negatively affect health and life expectancy. Getting on your feet is the first step,” he said. “When standing, movement, which means calorie burn, is natural. You fidget. You walk to talk to a coworker. You stretch. All of this gets the blood flowing, making you more alert, engaged and focused.”

And the workers and workplaces that have already jumped on the standing desks bandwagon aren’t taking the mixed research reports sitting down. Several told MarketWatch that they’ve become healthier and happier while standing on the job, no matter what the science says.

Work-from-home writer Lydia Noyes, a 25-year-old health and wellness expert for HighYa.com, has been using a Fully Jarvis standing desk (which starts at $369) for the past four months.

“Almost immediately after switching to a standing desk, I started to feel less tension in my lower back, which had been bothering me for almost the whole time I worked as a writer,” she said. “I think that having the option to transition from sitting to standing makes me a more focused writer, because I don’t need to walk around the house to relieve my glute muscles after sitting too long; I can just transition to standing and continue working.”

But Noyes admitted that, “I don’t weigh any less since using one, and I’m not sure if my writing output has increased or improved because of it,” she said. “However, I know that having one has had psychological benefits for me. I feel a little less ‘trapped’ during the workday when I know I can transition to standing at any time.”

Michael Arnold, 49, an engineer from Anderson, S.C., stands 6-foot-4, and has long suffered back pain from hunching over the standard desks built for shorter workers. So when his previous employer installed adjustable desks that could be used for sitting and standing in 2012, he became a convert to working on his feet. “Sitting at a desk is miserable for me, but it took a standing desk for me to realize it,” he said. “I now only sit for conference calls and to really focus in on detailed project work.” He also said that standing up keeps him from getting drowsy in the late afternoon.

And freelance writer Julia Goldstein, 52, signed up for a communal workspace in the Seattle area that offers standing desks — and even bought one for her home office — because the runner and triathlete noticed that sitting all day was tightening her hips and giving her lower back pain.

“I find now that I generally prefer to stand. I have more energy and am less likely to get tired in the middle of the afternoon. If I’m at a networking event with limited seating, I no longer search out a seat,” she said. But she also admitted that simply standing isn’t enough to keep her in shape or maintain her weight. “You still need to do more,” she said.

Chambers suggested that the disconnect between what these satisfied customers say, and the subjects reported in the 50-plus studies, could be because there are limitations to what research is out there. For one thing, these studies mostly centered on younger adults at healthy weights; there could be more health benefits (or, detriments) for those who are overweight or obese, or who are older and less active. Also, none of the studies were conducted long enough to see what the long-term pros and cons of standing desks are; only a couple went as long as six months to a year.

The bottom line: Standing desks aren’t miracle workers on their own, but rather part of an overall healthier lifestyle. Sitting too much is dangerous — but then again, so is standing too much. Workers standing or walking for more than six hours a day are at a doubled or tripled risk of surgery for varicose veins; these veins are associated with higher risks of arterial disease and heart failure.

Chambers encourages workers to recognize just where standing desks can benefit them — in easing neck and back pain, or encouraging them to move more — and where they fall short. But don’t drop upwards of a thousand dollars expecting this to be a quick fix to an unhealthy lifestyle when you can periodically take a break for a few minutes to stand up, stretch and go for a walk — for free.